Combined control means in respect of the starting and the gear changing operations of motor vehicles



3,009,066 G AND ES Nov. 14, 1961 BRUEDER COMBINED CONTROL MEANS IN RESPECT OF THE STARTIN THE GEAR CHANGING OPERATIONS 0F MOTOR VEHICL Flled March 5, 1956 Eli United States Patent ration Filed Mar. 5, 1956, Ser. No. 569,498 Claims priority, application France Sept. 24, 1955 1 Claim. (Cl. 290-36) This invention relates to combined control means in respect of the starting and the gear changing operations of motor vehicles.

011 motor vehicles the operations of starting and of changing the gear are usually elfected by means of separate control levers. This is accompanied by the disadvantage that it is possible to operate the starter when the pinions of one of the gear speeds are in mesh and in consequence the engine is connected up with the driven wheels, which will cause the vehicle to move forwards and may give rise to accidents.

There is also the further disadvantage that the starter may be actuated inadvertently whilst the engine is running, with the risk of damage to the starting pinions.

The present invention has for its object to eliminate these disadvantages, and in particular it is the object of the invention to provide a combined gear and starter control means, in which the starter is caused to be operated by means of a contact actuated by the gear control lever in a position thereof in which the gear box is in neutral. Furthermore, according to an additional feature of the invention, current is fed to the starter through the medium of a relay, which is disposed in series with the dynamo, so that when the latter is in operation the relay is in a state of balance between the voltage of the battery and the voltage of the dynamo, and in consequence is unable to operate.

In order that the invention may be more clearly under stood an embodiment thereof will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal view of a gear change lever according to the invention;

FIG. 1a is a view of a detail;

FIG. 2 is a section taken along the line II-II in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram in respect of the starter.

Upon referring to the drawing it will be seen that the gear change control means comprise a support 1, and lever 2 acting on a control rod 3 in such a manner as to cause this rod to be capable of turning and sliding in the support. This rod carries a member 4 having a channel 5, which is illustrated in detail in FIG. 1a. Into this channel, which generally speaking is of U-form, there penetrates a guide pin 6 secured to the support.

As shown, the channel comprises two main branches 5a, 5b, each of which defines a position of displacement of the rod 3 and corresponds to a certain speed. For example, the channel 5a corresponds to reverse gear and the first speed of the gear, whilst the channel 5b corresponds to the second, third and fourth speeds.

The channel 5 furthermore possesses at its middle point, in a direction opposed to the branches 5a and 5b,

3,009,066 Patented Nov. 14, 1961 ICC an extension 50, which is such that the guide pin 6, proceeding from one of the channels 5a or 517, is also to enter the same only after the rod 3 has been made to slide a certain distance, thus compelling the driver to etiect a lifting or lowering of the lever 2, followed by a rotary movement, in order to move the pin 6 to the end of the groove 50, this position of the lever corresponding to the neutral condition of the gear box. It can thus be seen that the gearshift provides gear engaging positions 5a and 5b with a neutral position between these positions. There is provided a lateral extension 5c on this neutral position in which the starter is actuated. In this position a contact finger 7 rigidly mounted on the member 4 closes a switch 10 formed by a metallic strip 8 and a fixed contact 9 mounted on the support. The switch 10, as illustrated diagrammatically in FIG. 3, is located in the circuit of a relay 11 controlling the supply of current to the starter 12 by way of the contact 15.

As already stated, and as will be seen from the diagram, the relay is connected in series between the battery 13 and the dynamo 14. In this manner, when the dynamo is rotating in normal operation, the voltage of the battery and that of the dynamo oppose one another and the starter is unable to operate.

I claim:

In a vehicle having a battery, a dynamo and a starter circuit including a switch, the combination of a gear-shift control rod actuatable rotationally and longitudinally to a plurality of gear selective positions and a neutral position, a shift lever at one end of said rod, a support for said rod, a member fixed on said rod having an external U-shaped groove with a lateral extension, a guide pin on the support cooperating with the groove and an electric switch on the support near said member, a finger secured to said member and positioned relative to said switch for the switch to be closed with the guide pin engaged at the end of said extension by rotary movement of the rod and with the gear-shift in neutral position, the switch being connected in series with a relay connected between positive terminals of the battery and the dynamo, said relay operating said switch in the starter circuit.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,251,293 Schmidt Dec. 25, 1917 1,293,569 Stein Feb. 4, 1919 1,618,683 Spivey Feb. 22, 1927 1,771,866 Stevenson et al. July 29, 1930 1,845,767 Stecher Feb. 16, 1932 1,875,192 Middleton Aug. 30, 1932 1,909,855 Devine May 16, 1933 1,936,619 Christian Nov. 28, 1933 1,941,089 Hellman Dec. 26, 1933 1,993,070 Middleton Mar. 5, 1935 2,374,303 Osborne Apr. 24, 1945 2,511,054 Ferguson et al. June 13, 1950 2,661,730 Schneider et a1. Dec. 8, 1953 2,811,598 Brown Oct. 29, 1957 FOREIGN PATENTS 616,408 Great Britain Jan. 20, 1949 

